Page 20 of A Witch’s Guide to Love and Poison

20

B ack at the treehouse, Bisma busied herself, but, even so, she kept thinking of Xander’s dark eyes, his hands at her waist. Just the memory of it made her stomach twist, made her jittery.

At the very least, at home she could hardly hear her own thoughts, the girls were being so loud. Bisma was at the table, opening up the hem of one of Mei’s dresses to make it longer, while Mei and Luna were in the kitchen, chatting.

From the living room, Bisma heard Azalea’s third consecutive frustrated groan in the past thirty seconds.

‘NORI,’ Azalea snapped, ‘why don’t you know how to spell?’

‘I do!’ Nori cried, outraged by the (accurate) accusation.

It was Azalea’s turn to teach the five-year-old, a task that drove one to the very edge of sanity.

Luna and Mei snickered from the kitchen, and Bisma gave them a scolding glance.

‘OK, so how do you spell land ?’ Azalea asked.

‘Uh … um …’ Nori stuttered. ‘J-J?’

‘No! L! ’ Azalea cried. ‘Baji! I literally cannot do this anymore! My head hurts, and I’m tired, and she’s not learning anything , and I want to take a nap.’

Bisma sighed, her fingers working along the dress’s hem. ‘Azalea, quit complaining. We could easily switch tasks but you need to have some patience. You’re always huffing and puffing; try calming down a little. And, Nori, do try to pay attention, sweet.’

Azalea was quiet then; she must have been in one of her moods. Releasing a breath, Bisma looked over her shoulder.

Azalea was frowning at her hand and Bisma’s heart missed a beat when she saw it was shot through with blue. She leapt to her feet, immediately going to her, while Nori’s eyes welled with tears.

‘I’m sorry,’ Nori said. ‘I’ll try harder, I promise!’

‘Great!’ Azalea grimaced with pain, leaning back against the sofa. Bisma turned to ask Luna or Mei to grab a dose of the freezing potion when Mei arrived by her side, holding the potion in hand.

‘You’re going to be just fine,’ Bisma said, sitting down next to Azalea.

‘Tell me it doesn’t taste awful,’ Azalea said. She was shaking with pain, face pale, but still had time to be sassy.

‘No promises,’ Bisma said. She emptied the liquid into Azalea’s mouth, and Azalea swallowed.

‘At least I get to take a nap now,’ Azalea said. Then, her eyes closed, and her skin went gray. She was frozen. Bisma released a breath, turning to look at her sisters—those who remained.

She pulled Nori into her lap, wiping the little girl’s cheeks.

‘At least we won’t have to listen to her complaining,’ Luna said, attempting levity, but they were all dispirited. The treehouse felt so much quieter without Azalea’s noise, without Deeba’s.

‘I’m going to the greenhouse.’ Bisma lifted Nori to her feet and stood. With the Forest’s help, she put Azalea onto her pushcart, then brought her sister over to the Chapman Estate.

When Xander heard her approaching with the pushcart, he left what he was doing and rushed to her side, taking it from her.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

She nodded, unable to speak. Frustration and anger coursed through her. Who was doing this? Why? If someone had a problem with her, she wished they would be upfront and say so, attack her if need be, but leave her sisters out of it. She hated this.

‘What was her story?’ Xander asked.

She blinked, looking at him. ‘Azalea was left as a one-year-old,’ Bisma explained, as together they transferred Azalea to a cot beside Deeba. ‘There was no note to explain her story, so nobody knew it. Azalea never wanted to learn it either because that way, she got to choose and craft her own past.’

‘She was never curious?’ Xander asked.

Azalea was settled, and Bisma took a moment to look at her frozen face.

‘For a while, she tried to convince us she was the child of the king,’ Bisma said, smiling at the memory. ‘She told this elaborate tale of how she must have been kidnapped and left in the Enchanted Forest for safekeeping, but one day she would return to the castle and be the princess she was always destined to be.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Azalea would tell them. ‘When I’m back at my castle, I won’t forget about all of you. You can even come stay with me! Only so long as you’re nice to me, of course. Mei, get me another biscuit, will you?’

This was when Azalea was around ten; as she got older, she stopped believing in the stories, but sometimes in jest she would still remind her sisters that she was a lost princess.

On Azalea’s birthday, they called her Princess Azalea all day, and she spent the day wearing a crown of twigs and flowers.

Azalea’s birthday was coming up soon—would she be awake for it?

‘Let’s get to work,’ Bisma said, clenching her jaw.

For the next few days, Bisma worked twice as hard, spending most of her time with Xander in his greenhouse. Luna was left in charge of Nori and Mei and the housework, while Bisma tried to keep up with selling her poisons and working on the cure.

She still thought that if she found out who had made the poison, it would help with formulating a cure. As much as she tried to fight it, her thoughts went back to Eleanora.

Xander extracted the poison from Azalea’s blood and compared it with the extraction from Deeba, finding both samples to be identical. This was a good sign, for it meant that the poison was no longer mutating or changing, and once they made a cure, it would work on both of them.

If only they could make it!

Xander focused on mixing the perfect potion (they did not attempt another growing lesson after the previous disastrous outcome) while Bisma tried to use magic to break down the poison in order to find out how it was made, which might in turn give them a clue about who had made it.

She had not forgotten that Xander’s mother might be involved in all of this, but she would not make an accusation without solid proof.

Unfortunately, this was impossibly difficult to accomplish. She didn’t know the exact science behind it, and neither did Xander, so she eventually stopped trying and went back to focusing on creating a cure. Once the girls were alright, she could discover who had done this and plot her revenge.

Bisma was so preoccupied that she hardly slept or ate, and her health quickly deteriorated, a fact she did not even notice until one day she entered the greenhouse and Xander gave her a look so filled with worry that even she grew apprehensive.

‘This won’t do, Bisma,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You need to take care of yourself.’

‘It’s fine,’ she said, but her voice was weak. She tried to clear her throat. ‘I’m fine.’

‘You’re clearly not.’ He frowned. ‘I’ve seen you in that same outfit for a week now.’

Ugh. He was right. Not that she admitted it to him then, but the next day she showered and came in wearing a fresh dress.

‘Happy?’ Bisma asked, gesturing pointedly to the clean outfit.

He smiled, about to nod, when he saw her hair. The smile faded.

‘You haven’t brushed your hair,’ he said.

She was appalled. ‘You know it isn’t exactly nice manners to point that out.’ She touched her knotted hair self-consciously. ‘Brushing it is an entire effort, and I’ve been too tired.’

‘Allow me,’ he said, rummaging around a desk for a hairbrush. Of course he kept a spare hairbrush in his workspace!

‘What? No.’

‘Come on, it’ll help you think.’ He held up the hairbrush, then strode toward her. ‘You need blood circulation.’

‘Blood circulation?’

‘Yes, blood circulation. We learned about it in school and everything.’

‘Of course you went to a school where they taught you the importance of brushing your hair.’

‘The only class I ever got full marks in, too.’

He was in front of her now, and put his hands on her shoulders, steering her to sit down on a stool. She really was too tired, so she let him, sighing.

With gentle hands, he undid the knot of her hair, then sectioned it off, his long and elegant fingers working deftly through the tangled mess. Then he began brushing, tugging lightly, and it was, to put it simply, heavenly.

Bisma closed her eyes as he worked, both of them silent. She listened to the sound of his breathing and of her hair being tamed. It was lovely, so lovely.

She had brushed her sisters’ hair for years, but hadn’t had hers brushed in a long, long time. It was so kind—so sweet to be taken care of—that she felt tears well up in her eyes, which was just absurd.

Why are you crying? She hastily blinked the tears away, glad he was behind her and would not see.

As Xander finished, she felt another wall around her heart come crumbling down. Bisma was afraid of how few of her defenses remained.

Spending so much time with Xander—she had gotten into the habit of him, and it was one she did not want to let go of. Even so, she was afraid: not only of the damage he could do to her if she let him in, but the damage he might find within her if he got too close. How repulsed he might be by the truth of her.

‘There,’ he said, gathering her smooth hair in his hands, then setting it down. She ran a hand over her hair; it was soft.

‘Thank you,’ she said, turning to face him.

‘Of course,’ he said.

There was an expression on his face she could not quite decipher, but his eyes were very green, bright and dazzling.

Bisma felt her face grow warm, and he inched closer. For a moment, she thought he might kiss her, and she resolved not to stop him. Not this time.

She closed her eyes, waiting.

But the kiss did not come. Instead, she felt cool air on her cheeks. She opened her eyes to find Xander smiling fondly.

‘Your face was red,’ he said, his voice low. ‘Thought you might need help cooling down.’

She was flustered, but she did feel fresh, much better than she had in the past few days. She felt ready to think, and indeed she did.

‘Xander,’ she said, standing. ‘Do you think your mother might know?’

‘My mother?’ he repeated. He ran a hand through his hair. ‘Wasn’t particularly thinking of her at the moment, but do go on.’

‘I was just thinking … Well, she might have a recipe for a mixture that you haven’t thought of so far,’ she said, trying to keep her tone normal.

‘Unlikely, but I can ask her,’ Xander said. ‘I did offer to ask her for help before, if you recall. I spend most of my time here with you and talk about you often enough.’

Alarm bells rang inside her. ‘You haven’t told her what’s happened, have you?’ Bisma asked, her tone sharp. ‘What we’re working on?’

‘No, don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I do tell her everything, but not what isn’t my business to tell.’

Relief flowed through her. ‘Good. I don’t want her—anyone—knowing.’

He looked as if he was about to say something, then stopped. After a moment, he said, ‘What do you suggest then?’

‘I was thinking … what if we took a look at her notes for the Apothecary potions? Perhaps we might find something?’

Bisma was hoping she to find something relating to the poison, something that would connect Eleanora to it. She had snuck into Eleanora’s office at the mansion again in search of such material, but had found nothing, and wondered if Eleanora kept more sensitive files at the Apothecary.

Xander thought about it. ‘I know how most of the Apothecary potions are made,’ he said, ‘so I’m not sure there will be anything new. I grew up learning how to make those potions, and they are all entirely tried and true. My mother—like my grandfather before her—is meticulous about what she sells at the Apothecary.’

‘Yes, but isn’t she ever developing anything new?’ Bisma asked.

Xander considered this. ‘I suppose so,’ he said. ‘If you like, we might as well try. Those types of notes and products will be in her office at the Apothecary.’

Excellent .

They went over that evening, after Eleanora had left. The manager gave Bisma a harsh look, recognizing her as the Unwanted Witch, but because she was with Xander, he did not stop her as they strode directly into Eleanora’s office.

It was smaller than her office at the estate but overflowing with papers and far less tidy. There were also loads of vials of potions made of that special Castletown glass customary of the Chapman Apothecary. The space reminded her of Xander’s greenhouse in a sense.

‘Time to get reading,’ Xander said, taking a deep breath.

They started paging through piles of paper, looking at instructions for different potions, as well as handwritten notes for products that Eleanora was testing out.

Bisma searched for notes that might tell her how the poison was made, but found none, for of course it would not be that easy. As she continued her search, she understood where Xander got his affinity for diligent record-keeping from, but she didn’t find much else that was useful.

Until Bisma spotted the words Enchanted Forest written on a piece of paper.

Making sure Xander wasn’t watching, Bisma pushed the papers on top to the side, until she could see the file.

She froze. It had information on each of the Unwanted Girls, and at the very top was Bisma’s name.

‘Did you find something?’ Xander asked, looking her way.

‘No,’ Bisma said quickly, discreetly covering the paper. She cleared her throat. ‘I thought I did, but it’s nothing.’

Xander sighed, paging through more papers. ‘I don’t think there’s anything here that I didn’t already know.’

‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Oh, wait!’ Xander paused, pulling a sheet out from the pile. His eyes scanned it quickly, and Bisma came to read it over his shoulder. It looked to be a cure recipe.

‘This is new,’ he said. Bisma didn’t know enough about the mixing recipes to see anything particularly of interest in it, until Xander pointed to a line. ‘I’ve never thought of using star anise this way.’

She looked at him and could see his mind was whirring, possibilities clicking in and out of place.

‘I have an idea,’ he said, stashing the sheet back. With a grin, he grabbed her hand, pulling her along, and they made a quick exit from the Apothecary. Xander was in such a hurry he did not notice the man entering just as they were leaving, and he collided straight into him.

‘Xander, my boy!’

‘Uncle Fred!’ Xander exclaimed, stopping in his tracks.

Frederick smiled at him. He really was even more handsome up close, which only bothered Bisma.

‘Where are you running off to?’ Frederick asked, grabbing his nephew’s shoulders. His gaze turned to Bisma. ‘And who’s your lovely friend?’

‘This is Bisma,’ Xander said, pulling her forward to introduce her. He was still holding her hand, and she knew she should have let go, but she did not want to. ‘Bisma, this is my uncle.’

‘Pleased to meet you,’ Frederick said, bowing a little.

‘Charmed,’ Bisma replied, attempting a pleasant smile.

Frederick grinned, turning to his nephew. ‘Well done, Xander,’ he said.

Xander’s cheeks turned pink.

Bisma arched a brow. ‘I wouldn’t congratulate him just yet.’

Frederick laughed out loud. ‘I like this one, Xander—be sure not to muck it up, now.’

‘And that’s enough embarrassment for today.’ Xander pulled Bisma away, and she bit back a laugh. He was still flustered when they arrived back at the greenhouse, but he quickly went into his focused research mode, asking her to grow certain ingredients as he prepared a new trial.

He ground ginger into a paste, and she added fresh nutmeg shavings in, which he then mixed together. Bisma grew bok choy, and Xander plucked the long leaves off, spread the paste over the inside, then rolled it. As he held the roll in place, Bisma pierced each roll with a toothpick to keep it from unraveling.

Then he grabbed star anise and added it to boiling water, brewing it as he did something with his magic, making the water level stay the same, rather than decrease with steam. When the water had changed color, he added the bok choy rolls in. They cooked them until the rolls had wilted entirely and the water had thickened.

Xander strained the liquid out; it was amber, threaded with gold flecks.

‘It’s ready,’ he said, holding up the bottle of liquid.

Bisma grew another test tree, injecting it with the poison as Xander brought over the potion. He poured it over the soil, then they waited and watched.

Slowly, the tree began to drink the potion up, and they saw it travel through the trunk and into the branches, dispersing to the darkened leaves. They were getting close; Bisma could feel it. She and Xander complemented each other in skills, and now, as they watched, she wondered if they had finally done it.

Then, just like magic, the leaves changed, morphing from their poisoned state back to their original health.

‘Oh my god,’ Bisma said, covering her mouth with her hand.

‘It’s working,’ Xander said in awe.

They looked at each other with wide eyes.

They waited to see if it would hold—and it did.

‘Bis, it worked!’ Xander whooped, and before she knew what was happening, he scooped her into his arms, spinning her around. She laughed out loud, holding onto him, until he set her down on her feet again.

‘It worked,’ she said, elation making her heart soar. They both looked to their test tree to make sure they had not deceived themselves, but, yes, it really was perfectly healthy once more.

‘Should we try it on Deeba?’ Bisma asked. Hope made her feel as if she was floating.

‘I think—’ he began, but he was interrupted by the greenhouse doors opening.

Luna and Mei entered, Luna holding Nori.

Nori, who had been poisoned.